Last Second
by SavageNymph
Summary: The last few seconds of L and Light's life, told from their points of view. One shot.


A/N: A one shot depicting the last few moments of L and Light's death. No pairings implied, so feel free to add your own. Enjoy!

***

_Thump, thump._

L knows what's about to happen as soon as Watari deletes all the files on the computer.

There's a slight panic that cuts off L's breathing. No. He knew this was coming. Knew it would happen soon. He just hadn't planned on dying this early. He wanted time. A bit more time. He wants to scream, to fight his way out of the black abyss he can see coming for him. But he won't do that. The most he can do, the smallest revenge he can have, will be to die without giving Kira any satisfaction.

_Thump, thu-thump._

Pain lances through his chest, turning his heartbeats erratic. So this is what it's like. This was what Kira's victims had felt, seconds before they died. It hurt. But it wasn't unbearable.

It would be over soon.

_Thu-thump, thu-thump._

Distantly, L feels himself fall from his chair, to the ground. That hurt added to the pain strangling his heart. Apart from the pain, from the dizziness, L feels as if he should stand up. Walk over to the couch, maybe, and get a slice of cake. How can death feel so normal? Shouldn't he get up? Shouldn't he get back to researching the Death Note? There's so much he should be doing right now, but the pain in his chest seems to act like a lead weight. There will be no standing for him, not every again.

No more cake.

_Thu-thumpthu-thump._

His heart is beating faster, as if it's realized it's about to stop. Maybe it's trying to fight away the suffocating shackles of agony. L feels warm sturdy arms curl around his shoulder. Dimly, he looks up to see Light's face a few feet from his own.

The sneer on his face seems to calm a deep part of L. The part that always had to be right, the part that had never stopped believing Light Yagami was Kira.

_I wasn't wrong…_

Thump.

_But…I guess…_

Thump.

_I lost._

Thump.

_And then darkness encloses over L's eyes. He is no longer himself, and still, at that moment, he is more himself than ever before. He is free. He is night. He is nothing. _

_He is everything. _

_._

_._

_._

***

Light is very warm.

Perhaps it's the blood that seems to soak every atom in his body. Perhaps it's the panic, the anger, the fear. All he knows is that he's very warm. He's not in pain, anymore, either. The throbbing agony in his hand, the tearing pain in his stomach, it's all gone.

But the pain of losing is still there.

_I wasn't supposed to lose, _Light thinks childishly. _Kira doesn't lose._

But as he stares up at Ryuk, afraid of the Shinigami for the first time, Light knows that he has lost. He's about to die.

Or maybe he's all ready dead?

No…he can still see the room…the fragmented faces of his enemies. But there are more people here than he remembers.

There's a petite blond women in the corner. She's dressed all in black, and she's waving at him. Misa. How did she get here? She's supposed to be at some hotel…

…but he can clearly see her there. She's smiling and waving, her eyes bright with the stupid happiness that's always there.

"_Light!"_

She blows him a kiss, laughing and smiling.

And then, standing by the door, is his father. Soichiro Yagami is watching his son with the same stern, loving expression he'd always worn. Light wants to tell him that he hadn't meant for him to die. That, in a way, he'd loved his father enough to want to keep him even when Light became Kira.

"_Light…" _The grizzled detective shook his head. His eyes are full of disappointment, but also a glimmer of love. Light's father stands silently at the doorway, watching as his son's blood stains the floor of warehouse crimson.

Then, most surprising of all, standing in the shadows at the back of the room, is L.

His shoulders are rounded, hands stuffed into his pockets. His black eyes watch Light with the same hooded suspicion as always.

"_Light-kun."_

L cocks his head, kicking the dirty floor with a bare foot. He looks kind of sad, and a little triumphant. Light is torn between wanting to punch him, and wanting to greet the only person he's ever felt a real friendship with. The only man Light had ever found his equal.

Darkness begins to blur the people on the room, until only the three who shouldn't be there still are.

Misa is the first to disappear. She smiles one more time, her wide child-like eyes glimmering with tears.

"_I love you, Light!"_

Light's father is the next to vanish. He puts his hand on Light's shoulder, his familiar brown eyes filled with an aching sadness.

"_Goodbye, my son."_

Light waits for L to disappear next. But he doesn't. Instead, the detective smiles slightly.

"_What are you waiting for, Light-kun? Aren't you coming?"_

He holds out his hand. _"We've got a long way to go."_

Light feels himself reaching out, feels his hand meet L's.

"Where are we going?" Light asks.

"_Nowhere." _L shrugs.

"Nothingness. Ryuk said there would be Nothingness when I died." Light lets L lead him, out of the dark, shadowy warehouse that doesn't seem real anymore.

"_Nothingness," _L said, dropping Light's hand and sticking it back into his pocket, _"and nowhere are different things, Light-kun."_

"I don't understand."

L turns his head slightly to give Light a familiar, superior look.

"_Well, that's the point isn't it, Light-kun? Some things aren't meant to be understood. Death is one of them."_

Light finds himself nodding.

"_Good, then follow me."_

The black-haired man starts walking again. Walking down a long black tunnel that doesn't seem to have an end, or a beginning.

Light follows him, soon swallowed up by oblivion.


End file.
